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A Found Memento: Raising a King

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

For those of the Alliance, the loss of King Varian Wrynn at the Broken Shore continues to echo throughout Azeroth. But for his son, Anduin Wrynn, that loss is felt most keenly as he faces not only the loss of a father, but takes on new responsibilities as a king.

Whether Horde or Alliance, we didn’t want you to miss seeing the culmination of the Alliance-only quest line A Found Memento and witnessing the rise of the new King of Stormwind.

In-game Cinematic Team Insights:
This was a story we had been wanting to share for a while, but hadn’t yet arrived at the right moment in the expansion to tell it. When things fell apart at the Broken Shore, it felt like there were many things left unsaid and unfinished for Anduin—and for the community as well. We went from the death of a king during the horrific clash at the Broken Shore, right into a battle for Azeroth’s very survival against the Burning Legion. There was no time to grieve for Anduin. However, with our return to the Broken Shore in Patch 7.2, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to revisit the young Wrynn’s storyline, and reveal to the audience that he’s still struggling to find his place as a king and coming to terms with the death of his father.

Knowing the story we wanted to tell in this cinematic, the quest team took the initiative to craft a robust quest line leading up to it, building and amplifying the emotional context for the cutscene. For those who have had the opportunity to play through it, there’s significant impact as we gain insight into what Anduin is experiencing—you see the people of Stormwind sharing their unvarnished feelings and doubts about Anduin as their new king. You witness some of the same skepticism conveyed by Genn Greymane—who, in his own gruff way, has stepped in as a father figure to the young king—and Velen, who has been his friend and mentor in the way of the Light on his journey to priesthood. Hearing these doubts led Anduin to make a firm decision: “I must see the Broken Shore for myself.”

The rest of the tale is told within the cinematic. Everyone who worked on it is incredibly thankful that, after all that has happened, we had the opportunity to say “goodbye” to King Varian Wrynn, and reveal a glimpse of what lies ahead for King Anduin Wrynn.

Key Character Bios

Anduin Wrynn —King of Stormwind

“There will be peace. One day.”

The son of Tiffin and the late King Varian Wrynn, Anduin Llane Wrynn has ascended the throne in Stormwind to take on the mantle of leader after the loss of his father. Anduin continues to struggle with his role in a world rife with brutality and war, but is working to reconcile his yearning for peace and the necessity of war. Learn more about Anduin’s story here.

Genn Greymane – King of Gilneas

“A monster lurks in my veins… Threaten my people, and it will be the last thing you ever see.”

After spending many years of isolation and abjectly refusing to rejoin the Alliance, Genn Greymane and his nation suffered a horrifying curse, transforming some Gilneans—including Greymane–into bloodthirsty wolf-beasts known as worgen. Their long seclusion behind their wall ended when Sylvanas and her Forsaken invaded the weakened kingdom and wreaked great destruction upon them. Gilneas suffered great losses—including the death of Genn’s own son, Liam. Rather than crumble, Greymane has focused his efforts on securing peace for the Alliance intent on one day reclaiming his lost kingdom. Learn more of Genn Greymane’s story here.

Velen, Leader of the Draenei

“Where faith dwells, hope is never lost.”

Velen is the spiritual leader of the draenei—a people once a part of the eredar—who have long been in exile from their homeworld of Argus. Velen was able to foresee the perils of following Sargeras and eventually led his people to make landfall in Azeroth. A paragon of the Holy Light, he continues to fight against the Burning Legion as a voice of wisdom for the Alliance.

As many of you have been aware, this tuesday evening we all suffered some sad turn of events.

I'll try to keep this post as short and on-topic as possible, but I feel like I owe it to all of the fans (and haters) that I and my guild Serenity have had in the past couple of years.

When we disbanded from Method in the beginning it was to make a raiding environment of people that shared the same interest in the game and that had the same desire to be the best. At first (during HFC farm) we accomplished that. We had a group of 25 players who all had numerous WF's on the record and we were looking strong as hell going into Legion.

As things progressed during the endless HFC farm that it was, people started quitting. We lost 3 noteably worthy players in Berrek, Sonie, and later on Zaelia, which was a huge blow for us. All 3 due to IRL commitments, which is only natural.

We kept going on as a guild trying to find the right players, but it was hard and it took a lot of effort on all of us. The stability of a core roster (especially your healers) is just the key to every top guilds' success.

Anyways. Enough about our roster issues over the years. Haters are gonna say its our own fault because we have a hostile environment or whatever lame-ass-hating comment you might have, and i'm glad you feel that way, because it means we were doing something right :-)

Now, personally. I wanna thank all of the 50+ players we've had in Serenity since we formed it, I wanna thank all of the fans, the friends, the viewers, the followers on social media and our sponsors we've had, I hope you all will still follow the race, follow MY friends that I've played with for the past 2 years and I hope you'll keep being awesome, because for a guy whos competing for a world first, theres nothing sweeter than when you get a cheer on the back from you guys following the wow PvE scene.

I know as i'm writing this post and as you guys might feel on my tone this is the end of my online "career". I will officially retire from the game with a heavy heart as the goal we set out to reach never got reached (the world first), however I have so many good memories that I will cherish forever.

To end it off with, thank you to Method for the motivation you've brought since we split up, and thank you for our times back in the day before we ditched. Props to you Sco for building the brand you've always talked about - I've been in it and I wanna give a massive kudos of respect to you for not burning out.

And lastly but not least I wanna give a shoutout to the friends that I met through this WoW process, particularly Leeds, Rogerbrown (all hates about your poaching aside), Pottm, Fragnance, Mike, Ted, Bodari, Ashvael, and Zeuzonita of course.

PTR Development Notes - Build 24116

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

This week’s PTR update enables the Deaths of Chromie scenario for testing! You’ll find her looking for help in Dalaran. We’re really looking forward to hearing your feedback, so please give it a try and let us know what you think in the dedicated feedback thread.

Later this week, we’ll be starting up some more raid testing for Mythic Tomb of Sargeras. We’ll also be opening Tomb for Raid Finder testing over the weekend. We’ll have more details soon – keep an eye out if you’d like to participate.

Also of note in this build are a few more class changes, including a fairly substantial round of updates for Subtlety Rogues. Again, please give them a try on the PTR and let us know what you think.

Thanks as always, and happy testing!

Raid Testing Schedule - May 18-19

Originally Posted by Blizzard
(Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

On Thursday and Friday, May 18-19, we will be conducting Mythic raid testing of Tomb of Sargeras bosses.

After testing concludes on Friday, we plan to open Raid Finder Tomb of Sargeras over the weekend.

As always, this testing schedule is very fluid and subject to the realities of a PTR environment. We might have to change the time of a testing session, change the bosses being tested, or cancel a test entirely, due to bugs, server hardware issues, etc. Keep an eye on this forum for the latest information, and thank you in advance for testing and providing feedback.

Christie Golden Working at Blizzard
Christie Golden is heading to work at Blizzard for a while!

Hm, people keep bashing Knaak left and right but I actually enjoyed the War of the Ancient books Tho I've read them before "I've learnt English", alas I've read translated versions, so those might've been actually better than the original (seen that happen to a few books).

Oh well, if I enjoyed Knaak's books and she's better than Knaak, this is actually a win situation for me!

Perhaps you should look into why Serenity disbanded before you apply your cookie cutter blanket statement.

Nothing you said disproves my point; largely, because I didn't make one that attributed another top guild folding. I vaguely referred to the PvE progression set up in World of Warcraft, and you've just assumed the rest.

That's a silly way to start your intercession. But the other quote I received helps to build this a little. Let's look at it together.

Originally Posted by lunarath

00.001% of the playerbase hardly classifies as "it's community"

I suppose an example of arse-number-pulling is as good a place to start as any.

Here's some history:

Cataclysm, tier 11, was maybe the first time this really cropped up. The progression drive was brutal, to the point when even top guilds (Sco, on behalf of Method) argued that it was getting too much. Nihilum, SK, Paragon, Premonition, vodka, Exodus, Midwinter... All of these guilds were competitive until they were forced to cannibalize each other, and now Serenity couldn't keep up with the personnel drive (Method's longevity is extraordinary). Raiding has gotten mechanically much harder, stress on rosters has increased with a lower playing population, organized raiding now has a higher skill floor than ever, and the time demands are getting ramped up by currency grinds that elongate progression well into player burnout.

It's also true that the raiding community is much more than merely its top players. While the race isn't as interesting as it used to be, the top guilds provide a leg up for those below them that need assistance in figuring out how to approach encounters.

All of these points are design incentives created specifically by Blizzard. Top guilds have always eaten each other as time moves on, but the pace is ramping up as a result of the design intent - not in spite of it. Players below that are starting to look for the first exit sign of a raiding treadmill that they're never done with, thanks largely to a never-ending stream of difficulty settings that are wholly unnecessary. And what was the policy for Legion?

Exasperate these issues with a never-ending currency grind, triple or quadruple-random reward vehicles, and a dismantling of effective alt support.

Blizzard really need to look at their approach. They've gotten LFR to the point where it's unnecessary and ready to be removed, while Mythic was always unnecessary. Creating a game that chases the dragon of players that churn through no matter what is hurrying the collapse of the entire endgame dynamic.

I suppose an example of arse-number-pulling is as good a place to start as any.

Here's some history:

Cataclysm, tier 11, was maybe the first time this really cropped up. The progression drive was brutal, to the point when even top guilds (Sco, on behalf of Method) argued that it was getting too much. Nihilum, SK, Paragon, Premonition, vodka, Exodus, Midwinter... All of these guilds were competitive until they were forced to cannibalize each other, and now Serenity couldn't keep up with the personnel drive (Method's longevity is extraordinary). Raiding has gotten mechanically much harder, stress on rosters has increased with a lower playing population, organized raiding now has a higher skill floor than ever, and the time demands are getting ramped up by currency grinds that elongate progression well into player burnout.

It's also true that the raiding community is much more than merely its top players. While the race isn't as interesting as it used to be, the top guilds provide a leg up for those below them that need assistance in figuring out how to approach encounters.

All of these points are design incentives created specifically by Blizzard. Top guilds have always eaten each other as time moves on, but the pace is ramping up as a result of the design intent - not in spite of it. Players below that are starting to look for the first exit sign of a raiding treadmill that they're never done with, thanks largely to a never-ending stream of difficulty settings that are wholly unnecessary. And what was the policy for Legion?

Exasperate these issues with a never-ending currency grind, triple or quadruple-random reward vehicles, and a dismantling of effective alt support.

Blizzard really need to look at their approach. They've gotten LFR to the point where it's unnecessary and ready to be removed, while Mythic was always unnecessary. Creating a game that chases the dragon of players that churn through no matter what is hurrying the collapse of the entire endgame dynamic.

I would love to raid with my guild again. But the fact is that time is not on my side. I'd love it if we were able to kill a handful of bosses in an hour. Lessen the grinds required to come to this point, such as food, potions, etc - which usually takes as long as the raid to grind or longer. Keep raiding short, but rewarding, and lessen it to what could only take me away from the family for the length of a TV show. When I raided, we would spend 2 nights, 3 hours each time trying to clear a raid. This time-sink and heavy pace would burn players out or cause real life family issues. Our off nights we would run alts for other guild members who wanted to see the inside of the encounter. Not all of us can stay single forever. And after a while this got to be too much to keep up. The support to get us to raiding was immense. I had a fantastic guild, and some of the team I've flown or drove out to meet in person. They're some real life friends and some of the best people I've met over a video game. I know that Blizzard has an impossible task to make content challenging, yet accessible. I really don't care what the top guild is up to. These guys only account for less than a fraction of players. My guild would fall into the 50 - 75%, and for us taking the time was taking a toll.

Not sure why she is allowed to write those books or why anyone at Blizzard thinks she is cut out for the job when its obvious for anyone that has read any good book in his life that she is just a mediocre boarding on terrible writer.

$$$. Guaranteed she works for a fraction of what an established, known author would want to get paid, and most authors would rather work on their own stories/series, not work for hire like this, where they don't get royalties, don't own the copyrights to the work, and are told what to write.
There's fan fiction, real fiction, and the kinds of books she writes, in between. Fan service books? I don't know what they call them, but they're pretty much looked down on by serious writers.

Originally Posted by brahlam

With her being in some official role where she may even decide the future of our beloved charakters in WoW or Starcraft I fear that this will be the downfall of what Chris Metzen has build over the past 25 years.

And Knaak isn't? His Mary Sue character defeats Deathwing, marries a beautiful elf, goes back in time and becomes super powerful and a teacher of Illidan, talking with raptors (think that Chris Prat scene from Jurrasic World) and convincing them to be teleported around and fight for him to save the rest of his party as well as things such as Kalecgos falling in love with the Sunwell.

Feel free to say Golden's a bad writer if you wish, but don't complain she's fan-fiction and then say that Knaak was better.

Knaak is an old school epic fantasy writer. He is bad, but he is light years from Golden. He simply writes better and I mean his writing skill, language he is using and general technicalities. Overall I would prefer Knaak's oddities over Christie's tumblr post like smudging.

Nothing you said disproves my point; largely, because I didn't make one that attributed another top guild folding. I vaguely referred to the PvE progression set up in World of Warcraft, and you've just assumed the rest.

That's a silly way to start your intercession. But the other quote I received helps to build this a little. Let's look at it together.

I suppose an example of arse-number-pulling is as good a place to start as any.

Here's some history:

Cataclysm, tier 11, was maybe the first time this really cropped up. The progression drive was brutal, to the point when even top guilds (Sco, on behalf of Method) argued that it was getting too much. Nihilum, SK, Paragon, Premonition, vodka, Exodus, Midwinter... All of these guilds were competitive until they were forced to cannibalize each other, and now Serenity couldn't keep up with the personnel drive (Method's longevity is extraordinary). Raiding has gotten mechanically much harder, stress on rosters has increased with a lower playing population, organized raiding now has a higher skill floor than ever, and the time demands are getting ramped up by currency grinds that elongate progression well into player burnout.

It's also true that the raiding community is much more than merely its top players. While the race isn't as interesting as it used to be, the top guilds provide a leg up for those below them that need assistance in figuring out how to approach encounters.

All of these points are design incentives created specifically by Blizzard. Top guilds have always eaten each other as time moves on, but the pace is ramping up as a result of the design intent - not in spite of it. Players below that are starting to look for the first exit sign of a raiding treadmill that they're never done with, thanks largely to a never-ending stream of difficulty settings that are wholly unnecessary. And what was the policy for Legion?

Exasperate these issues with a never-ending currency grind, triple or quadruple-random reward vehicles, and a dismantling of effective alt support.

Blizzard really need to look at their approach. They've gotten LFR to the point where it's unnecessary and ready to be removed, while Mythic was always unnecessary. Creating a game that chases the dragon of players that churn through no matter what is hurrying the collapse of the entire endgame dynamic.

Some of this is truth but not all.

Guilds have come and gone in every sector of the game, every single expansion since Burning Crusade. I know the dominant raiding guilds on the realms I've played on, tier to tier almost - they always fall apart eventually - even when they were dominant for an entire expac - that's how teams tend to work - you can't dominate forever.

I don't really see now as any different from before, people tend to play it up, Method are an exception but guilds have fallen around them for ages, it doesn't mean anything.

I don't really see now as any different from before, people tend to play it up, Method are an exception but guilds have fallen around them for ages, it doesn't mean anything.

I think it does, but we're butting heads; there's no empirical evidence either way.

For me, the shattering of a guild is always meaningful because I believe that it always sees players give up and leave. Many players find other guilds to join, because there are always options, but I think a significant percentage are simply lost to the game. The problem is that those players who depart aren't being replaced; they're not being replaced because, at the competitive end, organised raiding is much too difficult for relatively new players to step up to and earn a spot in a top guild. This isn't just the mechanical aspect of encounters becoming much harder, but also the organisational demands that these guilds place on players.

Ultimately, any system is going to have an attrition rate and the evidence seems to suggest that there just isn't enough new blood coming in to stop guilds folding left, right and centre. Until Blizzard stops the hammering of new players by passively telling them that they suck, the feed into organised raiding will remain broken.

This is what happens when good players think they can be good guild/raid leaders. They fall flat on their face. Serenity is the most high-profile example of the tried and true "guild mutiny" play. Serenity committed mutiny, only to fail, as most mutiny/spite guilds do. Note to all raiders out there, just because you are good, doesn't mean you can run a guild. STFU and play, try running a guild yourself, you will fail just like so many others have, including the much-hyped and epic fail guild known as Serenity.